Nearly 800,000 volunteers worldwide removed more than 20 million pieces of trash in the 2017 International Coastal Cleanup


According to the Ocean Conservancy’s 2018 International Coastal Cleanup Report released last June, nearly 800,000 volunteers in 107 countries came together and removed more than 20 million pieces of trash from beaches and waterways. That’s 20 million fewer potential impacts on birds, whales, turtles and other marine wildlife. We picked up 9,285,600 kilograms of trash over 30,472 kilometers of coastlines, rivers and underwater areas.

Ocean Conservancy’s Ocean Trash Index is the world's largest item-by-item, location-by-location database of trash found in near-shore environments. Last year, we’ve collected enough plastic beverage bottles to fill over 5 standard swimming pools, enough rope to weave a beach towel that is 28km long, enough straws to reach the height of over 10,000 palm trees, enough cigarette butts to line the distance of 5 marathons and enough plastic bags to sew 5,461 sails. Some of the weird items found in the September 2017 Cleanup include: a satellite disc, a 6-seater golf cart, couches, a washing machine, a scooter and a car.

Plastic debris remains a growing concern in the marine environment, and the top five most commonly collected items are cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bottle caps and plastic grocery bags, respectively. All are forms of plastic debris.

In the 2017 Cleanup, the Philippines’ contribution was particularly notable for bringing the highest number of volunteers for the Cleanup. In total, 216,244 Filipinos retrieved more than 400,000 pieces of trash over 1,105 kilometers of beaches and waterways. These items collectively weighed more than 227,000 kilograms or roughly the same weight as 151 average cars.

ICC Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary are the National Coordinators of the Cleanup in cooperation with the institutional partners from the government: DILG, DepEd, DENR, DOTr, DPWH and DOT.

Download Ocean Conservancy’s reports to see how trash impacts the ocean, our beaches and what you can do to help:

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